Finnegan claims gold in Santry

THE Irish Life Health National Senior Championships took place at Morton Stadium in Santry last Saturday and Sunday. The fine weather of recent weeks broke and heavy rain on the first day and strong winds on the second, made for testing conditions. The only gold medal of the weekend came courtesy of Denis Finnegan from An Riocht who took the men’s triple jump title with a leap of 14.33m. Club mate Shona Heaslip ran a gutsy 5,000m to take the silver medal. Leading from the start she was just pipped into second place in the final stretch, but nonetheless ran an excellent time of 16.03. There was also silver for Iveragh’s Adam King in the men’s hammer with a throw of 63.05m and Solange Diogo from Tralee harriers won bronze in the women’s triple jump with 11.43m.

David Kenny (Farranfore Maine Valley) was first up on the track on Sunday, winning bronze in the men’s 10k walk, a great achievement for this 19 year old athlete. By far the most thrilling race of the day was the men’s 100m final featuring Tralee Harriers sprinter Travane Morrison.

Having won his heat earlier in the afternoon with the third fastest qualifying time we had to wait until 7:10pm to see him step into the blocks for the final. The top three athletes were neck and neck up to the line with Travane taking silver in 10.54.

Mairead O’Neill (Gneeveguilla) finished in fourth place in the women’s hammer, Michael Tony jumped well to finish fifth in the men’s triple jump as did Luke O’Carroll from Tralee Harriers who made the top 8 the men’s long jump. Aoife Mahony (Lios Tuathail) made the final of the women’s 800m, running a season’s best. Well done to everyone who took part over the weekend.

Some results missed from last week’s report. In the juvenile Munster Bs there were great performances from Farranfore Maine Valley athletes — Ryan Vickers silver U-9 boys’ 60m and 300m; Isaac Vickers gold U-10 500m and silver long jump; Niamh O’Shea silver U-12 girls’ javelin; Cormac Costelloe bronze U-14 800m; Mairead Walsh fourth in U-12 80m and 600m.

Next Sunday is the big day for all runners and joggers as the 9th annual Banna 10k and 5k runs take place on the roads near Banna Strand.

The event begins at 9.30 am with registration from 8:30am. All entries will be taken on the day and entry fees are €20 for the 10k and €10 for the 5k fun run. The Tom O’Riordan Perpetual Trophy is on offer for the overall winner of the 10k while all finishers will receive a goodie bag or a medal.

Details are available from St Brendan’s AC on 087 7985557 or see Facebook or blogspot.

Best of luck to the Kerry athletes heading to Scotland next weekend for the Celtic Games.

Prepping for the ninth Banna 10K and 5K runs on this Sunday are St Brendan’s AC members Aaron Horgan, Irene Butler, Shaz Malik, David Kissane, Moira Horgan and Kevin Horgan.